1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to swimming accessories, and more specifically, to manually operated, flip-style lap counters held along the side of a pool for viewing by a swimmer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Current manual, flip-style lap counters consist of two sets of pages with numbers printed on one side that are held along the side of a pool for viewing by a swimmer to indicate the current lap. For the swimmer to view the lap counter, a swimmer""s assistant must temporarily hold it at or below water level, and then lift it out of the water to turn one or both pages on the lap counter to indicate the next lap.
Flip-style lap counters include a planar, rigid base member with two stacks of pages pivotally connected together along their outer edges to the base member. A single digit is printed on the front surface of each page and on the front surface of the base member. During use, the pages in each stack pivot around the outer edges of the base member to display the single digit on the front surface on a lower page or the base member. Formed near the upper edge of the base member is a horizontally aligned, elongated oval-shaped slot. Formed near the upper edge and along the inside edge of each page is a horizontally aligned U-shaped slot. When the pages are placed over the front or back surfaces of the base member, the U-shaped slots are aligned and registered over the elongated slot on the base member thereby enabling the user to extend his or her fingers through the elongated and U-shaped slots to hold the lap counter with one hand.
Currently, the assistant must kneel down next to the side of the pool and, with one hand, hold the bottom edge of the lap counter 12 to 16 inches below the water line with his or her fingers extending through the elongated and U-shaped slots. The assistant must then lift the lap counter out of the water and adjust the location of his or her fingers in the slots so that the pages may be changed with his or her opposite free hand. When changing the pages, the assistant may accidentally drop the lap counter into the water. Also, while kneeling down, the assistant may be splashed, or fall into the water. Since swimmers often swim up to sixty laps, the act of repeatedly kneeling down and changing pages to insert or remove the lap counter from the water makes it likely that one of the two undesirable events will occur.
What is needed is a swimmer""s lap counter device that uses a standard, flip-style lap counter that allows the assistant to easily change pages, reduces the possibility that the lap counter may be dropped into the water, and allows the user to stand upright while holding and removing the lap counter from the water. Such a device should also enable an assistant to lock the pages in place on the lap counter so they do not turn when the device is inserted or removed from the water.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a holding device for a manual, flip-style lap counter.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a holding device that enables the user to stand upright adjacent to the edge of the pool and extend the lap counter into the water for viewing by the swimmer.
It is a further object of the invention that locks the pages on the lap counter in position as the device is inserted and removed form the water.
These and other objects of the invention which will become apparent are met by a swimmer""s lap counter device used to inform swimmers of the number of laps they have completed. The device includes a planar body with parallel front and back surfaces and an upward extended neck. The neck has sufficient size and shape to act as a handle for holding the device with a lap counter attached thereto in the water. Formed inside the upper portion of the planar body and below the neck is a wide finger opening which allows the user to extend his or her fingers in the planar body to hold the device. Formed inside the neck is a threaded bore that may attach to an optional elongated pole that has sufficient length so that an assistant may stand upright adjacent to the edge of the pool and position the planar body at or below the water line.
The planar body has at least one outward extending, transversely aligned alignment member formed on each front and back surface. The alignment members are located directly opposite each other near the lower edge of the front and back surfaces. In the preferred embodiment, the front and back surfaces are recessed with their upper edge extending outward and acting as an abutment surface for the upper edge of the lap counter.
During use, the lap counter is longitudinally aligned and positioned over the front surface of the planar body so that the upper edges of the base member and pages in each stack are aligned with the upper edge of the recessed front surface. The upper elongated slot formed on the lap counter""s base member and the U-shaped slots on the individual pages are aligned around the alignment member on the front surface. When the pages are turned, the U-shaped slots are aligned around the alignment member on the rear surface. The alignment members both extend outward a sufficient distance from the front and rear surfaces so they extend through all to the pages when stacked on the front and rear surfaces.
Attached to the front and rear surfaces is an adjustment knob that prevents the stacked pages from rotating when positioned around the alignment members. In the preferred embodiment, there are two pairs of adjustment knobs attached to the outer surface of each alignment member. Each alignment member is able to freely rotated 360 degrees between locking and non-locking positions. Also in the preferred embodiment, the alignment member located on the rear surface is located directly opposite the alignment member located on the front surface so that the lap counter""s U-shaped slots may be aligned with the alignment member when the pages are rotated to the back surface. During use, the adjustment knobs are turned to a non-locking position so that the pages may be turned. The adjustment knobs are then turned to a locking position to prevent the pages in each stack on the lap counter from turning. In the preferred embodiment, the two adjustment knobs on the front surface are coupled to the two adjustment knobs located on the back surface of the planar body so that the pages located on both surfaces can be simultaneously locked or unlocked.